Posts Tagged ‘local foods’

October is celebrated as the Great Lakes Great Apple Crunch month, an opportunity to promote both local foods and healthy snacks. The Apple Crunch encourages schools, clubs, or employers to choose a day in October and serve fresh local apples. In southern Ohio many of our schools have already, or will be, participating in the Apple Crunch by serving apples from our local orchards.

Apples are a healthy snack which provides both soluble and insoluble fiber in one food. Soluble fiber helps to prevent cholesterol buildup, reducing the risk of heart disease; and insoluble fiber helps move food through your digestive system. The Vitamin C in apples is an antioxidant; important for skin, bones and healing. Vitamin A, also in apples, plays a role in vision, bone growth, and our immune system. A small to medium apple is a low-calorie snack with only 75 to 80 calories per apple. Apples are also fat, sodium, and gluten free.

Select firm apples that are free of decay, bruises, broken or shriveled skin with an intact stem. Store apples in the refrigerator in a perforated, plastic bag away from other fruits. Apples produce ethylene with may cause other fruits to prematurely ripen. Use within three weeks. Before serving wash under running water.

With over 7,500 varieties of apples it may be hard to decide which apple to select. Each variety has different qualities, think about how you plan to use the apples to help you in the selection process. Apples can be sweet, tart, soft and smooth or crisp and crunchy. Some varieties are perfect for baking, others work better in salads, and some are best for eating fresh – like those we will select for the “Great Apple Crunch”. For example, Jonathans are tart and great for baking. Galas (my personal favorite) are sweet and good for eating or salads. Granny Smith apples are tart and great for baking. The Ohio Apple website has a great guide to provide information about varieties, their taste, and what they are best used for. Go to http://ohioapples.com to find out more. Apples fortunately have a great shelf life and can be used in numerous ways when cooking – think salads, cake, muffins or bread, in pancakes, sandwiches, oatmeal, or hot in chili, stuffing, or with sweet potatoes or squash. Apples are a very versatile fruit. The USDA What’s Cooking Mixing Bowl has over 140 recipes that are economical and most are healthy, find them at http://go.osu.edu/applerecipes .

If you have the chance, select locally grown apples to have optimum flavor, prevent loss of nutrients, support the local economy, promote a safe food supply, and know where your food was grown. If you would like to join the Great Lakes Great Apple Crunch purchase local apples, possibly from an orchard or your local Farmers Market, and eat them as a snack or with a meal. Apples are inexpensive to serve as part a program with youth at a school or in a club, or as a treat at your next staff conference. Consider bringing along an apple an apple slicer/corer – as some people find it difficult to eat the skin of an apple (especially young children who may not have their front teeth.) Post your own photos on social media showing your students, co-workers, or family members crunching apples in October and use the hashtag #GreatAppleCrunch or #OhioAppleCrunch. Feel free to email me your apple crunch pictures to Lisa at barlage.7@osu.edu.

Writer: Lisa Barlage, Extension Educator, Family and Consumer Sciences, Ohio State University Extension, Ross County, barlage.7@osu.edu.

Reviewer: Pat Brinkman, Extension Educator, Family and Consumer Sciences, Oho State University Extension Fayette County, brinkman.93@osu.edu

We are entering that wonderful time of the year when local farmers’ markets are open, roadside stands pop up and even local grocery stores offer plentiful displays of fresh, local fruits and vegetables. With all of this bounty, sometimes the question arises on how to choose the most flavorful, ripe product. You will want to choose fruits and vegetables at the peak of their freshness for the best flavor and nutritional value.

Here are some helpful hints to remember when you are shopping:

Look for fruits or vegetables that have the shape, size and color that are usually thought of for the item. Remember though, they don’t have to be perfect to be good! That tomato or pepper that is slightly misshapen should be just as tasty and nutritious as its perfect neighbor.

Avoid fruits/vegetables with obvious bruises or discoloration. These spots will spoil quickly. If you notice a spot after you bring the produce home, cut out the bad spot and use as soon as possible.

Feel the item. If it is very soft it may be overripe; if it is too hard, it hasn’t ripened enough to eat yet. Melons can be especially difficult to choose. Here is great information on choosing ripe melons.

Smell! Fruits/vegetables that have the characteristic aroma associated with the item should be ready to eat. Think fresh peaches!

Not all vegetables and fruits will continue to ripen once they have been harvested.

Tomatoes, unripe melons, and tree fruits such as pears, peaches and nectarines should be kept at room temperature to ripen. They will get sweeter and more delicious.

Grapes, berries, and cherries won’t get better while sitting out, so they should go into the refrigerator right away.

Other fruits, like citrus, could sit out for a day or two but then should also be put in the refrigerator.

Most vegetables should be refrigerated when harvested or purchased. Some exceptions would be onions, garlic and potatoes.

Some fruits and vegetables are better stored in the refrigerator before you wash them. Items such as beans and berries are more likely to spoil if stored damp. Be sure and brush off as much dirt as possible before storing. Place them in bags to keep them from contaminating other food in your refrigerator and them wash well when you are ready to eat them.

All produce should be rinsed under cool running water. Do not use soap or bleach as the residue left on the produce could make you ill.

Fruits and vegetables are an important part of a healthy diet. By buying fresh, seasonal items at the peak of their freshness and having them available to eat makes it easier to incorporate them into our daily diet.

A few days ago we read about the abundance of zucchini plants in many of our gardens. Peppers are another vegetable that has been producing non-stop recently. My grandson’s garden is providing all of us with more peppers than we can use! Being a young entrepreneur, he even set up a small stand near their lane to sell peppers and zucchini to neighbors who don’t have a garden of their own!

The varieties of peppers grown locally include bell which can be green, orange, red, or yellow; jalapeno and other hot peppers and the milder sweet banana peppers. All of the members of the pepper family provide great nutritional value in our diets. They’re low in calories and are an excellent source of vitamins A and C, potassium, folic acid, and fiber. Compared to green bell peppers, the red ones have almost 11 times more beta-carotene and 1.5 times more vitamin C. A single raw red pepper, sweet or hot, can meet the daily requirements for two important antioxidants, vitamin A and C.

Peppers are a very versatile vegetable. They can be eaten raw or cooked and can be used as additions to sandwiches, salads, stuffing, soup, stews, and relishes. Roasting peppers, however, brings out a totally different taste. This takes some time but the results are well worth it. Char thick-skinned peppers until the skin is black and blistered. They can be charred under a broiler, over an open flame or on the grill. While they are still hot, cover or place in a paper bag for 15 minutes and allow the steam to loosen the charred skins. Peel over a bowl to catch the juices, and use in your favorite recipe.

Peppers can also be preserved safely by freezing, pickling or canning. The National Center for Food Preservation and Ohio State University Extension provided guidance on freezing, pickling and canning peppers and pepper recipes.

If you are harvesting peppers from your garden or purchasing at a local farmer’s market, remember to wash peppers just before using them. Rinse them under cool running water. Peppers can be stored in a plastic bag for use within 5 days. When preparing hot peppers, be sure to wear gloves, keep your hands away from your face and wash your hands thoroughly as soon as you are finished. They can burn your skin and eyes!

Here is a quick and easy recipe for a refreshing summer salsa provided on the USDA What’s Cooking web site. Check out this site for many great, economical, healthy recipes!

Easy Mango Salsa

Prep time: 10 minutes

Makes: 4 Servings

Total Cost: $1.29

Serving Cost: $0.32

The sweetness of fresh mango combined with savory pepper and onion and the zest of lime give this salsa a balance of flavors that are refreshing and crisp. Serve this appetizer with baked tortilla chips or whole grain crackers for a tasty snack.

As my family gardened this week we noticed that we have an abundance of zucchini. It’s that time of year where everyone is getting more than they anticipated and they are trying to find ways to use it up, preserve it, or give it away.

When picking zucchini look for firm and wrinkle free zucchini that is about 6 to 8 inches long and 2 inches in diameter. If you are anything like me, you likely have zucchini in your garden that’s 12 inches long and 4 inches in diameter. The larger the zucchini the tougher it will be and it will also contain more seeds. These zucchini are best for baking. Scoop out the seeds and pulp, grate the zucchini and use in your favorite recipes.

Zucchini have a high water content which makes them lower in calories. They provide us with vitamin C, fiber, vitamin K, riboflavin, vitamin B6, folate, magnesium, and potassium. This makes them a fantastic vegetable to eat. However, not all children are big vegetable eaters. If you are like me, you sneak them into things when they don’t notice. Zucchini bread is always a good option but if you have a picky eater like I do, the green flecks in the bread can quickly turn them away. Have you ever put it in your chocolate cake or finely shredded in spaghetti sauce? My kids don’t know it’s there and I get them to eat a vegetable! I count it as my mom super power! The below recipe is a great one to try from USDA’s Mixing Bowl recipe collection. You can also check out some of their other zucchini recipes.

The big zucchini that I picked from my garden will make a lot of Chocolate Squash cake. I won’t use all of my grated zucchini before it goes bad so I will be freezing my leftovers. For proper freezing procedures please check out these safe instructions by the National Center for Home Food Preservation. Make sure you blanch zucchini before freezing to ensure quality.

Eating the squash cake is not as healthy for you as eating the raw vegetable itself but we all have to start somewhere.

Aunt Barbara’s Chocolate Squash Cake

Makes: 12 Servings

Instructions

1/2 cup vegetable oil

1 package cake mix, dark chocolate

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

3 eggs

1 1/4 cups water

1 cup squash (shredded or finely chopped)

1/4 cup chopped walnuts (optional)

Directions

Preheat oven to 350°F. Grease and flour a 10″ tube or bundt pan.

In a large bowl, combine cake mix and cinnamon.

Add eggs, water, and oil. Blend until combined, then beat with an electric mixer for 2 minutes on medium speed.

Fold in squash. Add nuts if you like.

Pour into prepared pan. Bake for 50 minutes to 1 hour, until cake springs back when lightly touched.

Ever wonder where you can buy gooseberries directly from a local producer? What about hydroponically produced sweet corn? What if you want to find a local producer who will deliver certified organic, fresh dill right to your doorstep? Do you know where to find a farmer’s market in your county? What about a winery in the region?

The above questions can all be answered at the Ohio MarketMaker website at http://oh.foodmarketmaker.com. The website was developed by Ohio State University Extension in collaboration with the Ohio Agricultural Research and Development Center, the Ohio Department of Agriculture, Farm Bureau and Our Ohio, and the Center of Innovative Food Technology. The website allows consumers to conduct searches for local producers, food retailers, restaurants, farmers’ markets, and other businesses who produce and sell various products. The website also allows for consumers to direct their searches at the multistate, state, county, or city levels for the business of interest. Consumers can even narrow their searches to very specific products if they choose to do so. Once the information is selected the website will generate a map and listing of local businesses of interest.

Another neat aspect of the website is that it allows for local producers and businesses to identify specific markets for their products. For example, a local livestock producer could identify a high end market (average household income of over $100,000) in the region to sell branded beef. Business owners simply enter specific demographic information of interest and the website will map out potential markets at city, county, state or multistate level. Also, businesses can use the tool to identify suppliers. For example, a chef at a gourmet restaurant could identify local producers who could deliver fresh herbs that are organically produced.

If you manage a business, farm, or farmer’s market make sure that you are registered with Ohio Marketmaker. It could be an excellent marketing tool for your product. Likewise, if you are a consumer, make sure you check out the website. It’s a lot of fun to find out where you can buy various products locally. Agriculture is still the top industry in Ohio contributing 79 billion to the economy. Currently though, only a fraction of all food dollars remains within the Buckeye state. If this fraction could be increased, it could generate much needed capital in these difficult times. Check out Ohio Marketmaker!

Author: Dan Remley, Field Specialist, Food, Nutrition and Wellness.

Reviewer: Tammy Jones, Family and Consumer Sciences Extension Educator, Pike County, Ohio State University Extension.

Agriculture is Ohio’s number one industry contributing jobs for one in seven Ohioans, and more than $107 billion to the state’s economy. (ohioproud.org)

Ohio offers a unique proximity of metropolitan and micropolitan areas, linking rural and urban consumers, growers and communities to food produced on small, medium and large-scale family-owned farms.

Ohio ranks in the top ten states for direct sales to consumers represented by a wide variety of food products including but not limited to eggs, milk, cheese, honey, maple syrup, beverages, bread and other artisan products, fresh, frozen canned and dried vegetables, fruits and meats. (USDA Ag Census, 2012.)

One in six Ohioans is food insecure and lacks access to fresh, local, healthy food.

All Ohioans are part of the food system just by making daily decisions about what food to eat.

There is not one definition for “local” food. When making food decisions, many people consider where their food was grown or raised and make an effort to develop personal connections with growers and producers to enjoy flavorful, safe, local food. Ohio Local Foods week is not only about enjoying the tastes of local foods but is also about becoming more aware and better informed about the nutritional, economic, and social benefits of local foods in Ohio.

Even during wintertime, Ohio local food is available, whether it is fresh produce grown with season extenders or crops that can be held for long periods of time in cold/cool storage as well as baked, canned, frozen and dried foods. August is a great time to celebrate Ohio Local Foods Week because of the availability of direct-to-consumer marketing of all products including a wide variety of fresh produce.

The Ohio State University Extension Local Food Signature Program invites everyone to celebrate Ohio Local Foods Week from August 9th – 15th, 2015. We encourage individuals, families, businesses and communities to grow, purchase, highlight and promote local food all the time but especially during this week. I personally have a CSA (community supported agriculture) share at a local farm that I pick up every Monday. I also try to shop at my local farmer’s markets or fruit and vegetable stands. I also enjoy freezing a lot of my local produce so I can enjoy it all year long. There is nothing better than homemade strawberry jam or a side of sweet corn in the middle of our long Ohio winters!

Just as there is no one definition for “local,” there is no one way to celebrate Ohio Local Foods Week. Even though I prepaid for my CSA, I still plan to spend more than $10 buying extra sweet corn and some blueberries at my Farmer’s Market this week. You are invited to participate in the $10 Ohio Local Foods Challenge by committing to spend at least ten dollars (or more) on your favorite local foods during Ohio Local Foods Week. Look for regional community events, follow the event on Facebook and Twitter, and sign up at http://go.osu.edu/olfw10dollars for the $10 Ohio Local Foods Challenge. Even though I prepaid for my CSA, I still plan to spend more than $10 buying extra sweet corn and some blueberries at my Farmer’s Market this week.

The Dietary Guidelines encourage you to enjoy your food, but eat less and avoid oversized portions.We all know how tempting it is to finish your large sandwich, beverage, or large bagel. These oversized portions can contribute to weight gain.

If you want to maintain or lose weight, try some of these strategies:

• Eat smaller portions – can you split a breakfast or dinner entrée?
• Fill half your plate with vegetables – summertime is here; fill up on local vegetables and fruits.

• Offer smaller portions for your sandwiches. These Caprese sandwiches were offered at a bridal shower. Fresh tomatoes and mozzarella cheese with balsamic vinegar made these small sandwiches a hit. They were wrapped in parchment paper and tied with jute so that they were easy to pick up.

• Fill up on salads! Eat darker lettuce varieties or use a Spring Mix Salad. Add fresh strawberries or berries and nuts for a nice crunch. Encourage guests to “drizzle” a little dressing on the salad for added flavor. When you have a variety of flavors in a salad, you may use less dressing.

• Enjoying dessert? Split your dessert or eat a smaller portion. Take your time to savor the taste of your treat.

Want to learn more? Take the Portion Distortion Quiz from US Department of Health and Human Services, National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute. You will see pictures of food and how portion sizes have expanded over the past 20 years.

Make a decision to eat more veggies and fruits and watch your portion sizes!

Writer: Michelle Treber, Family and Consumer Sciences Educator, Ohio State University Extension, Pickaway County, treber.1@osu.edu

Reviewer: Marilyn Rabe, Family and Consumer Sciences Educator, Ohio State University Extension, Franklin County, rabe.9@osu.edu